


No Needles, Please.

by firecracker189



Series: The Adventures of Baby Jack and Little Ethan [11]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Baby!Jack, Gen, Little!Ethan, Little!Jack, Non-Sexual Age Play, grumpy jack and ethan, nsap, toddler!ethan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 04:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18513958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firecracker189/pseuds/firecracker189
Summary: Prev. Chap. 12 of 'Regression Oneshots'. The boys go to get their flu vaccinations, but Jack doesn't like it very much.





	No Needles, Please.

Jack fidgeted nervously and Mark reached over to place a hand over a bouncing knee.

“S-sorry.” He murmured, with an apologetic smile.

“That’s okay,” Mark replied, and removed his hand. Something about the way Jack had been behaving the last few minutes had him thinking. He cast his gaze over to where Ethan was sitting a couple chairs over, flipping through something on his phone, unfazed; then he moved it back to the one sitting beside him, who was nibbling at his thumb-nail. Mark cleared his throat softly. “Um, Jack? Are you afraid of needles, by any chance?” he asked softly, mindful of the others in the waiting room.

Jack looked startled by the question, quickly moving his hand from his mouth. “Wh-no!” he stuttered out, looking indignant. “I… I’m not afraid of needles, what kind of question is that?” Jack crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair.

“I was just checking, because whether you like it or not, there’s no backing out of this. You chose to come visit during flu season, and you know everyone goes to get shots whether they live here or not,” he answered lightly, examining his nails on one hand.

Jack shifted again and looked nervously over at the door as it clicked open again and the nurse called out another name. He wiped sweaty palms on his jeans and looked back over at Mark. “Um, I might be,” he finally answered. “Just…. Only a little, though.”

Mark gave him a reassuring smile. “Would it help if Ethan went first? He doesn’t have a problem with it and then you could maybe see that it doesn’t hurt that badly?”

“O-okay,” he mumbled, leaning forward in his chair and tapping his fingers against his knees.

“Hey, Eth?” Mark spoke up, and Ethan looked his way. “Do you mind going first and just getting yours out of the way? Jack’s not so sure about this.”

“Yeah, sure!” he piped up, nodding with a tiny smile. “It’s nothing to worry about, bro. You’ll be fine.” Ethan assured, and Tyler gave him a little proud smile once Jack wasn’t looking. Ethan blushed and looked back down at his phone again, a warm feeling blossoming in his chest at Tyler’s approval. Even when he wasn’t Little, he still craved it. It made him feel good.

After a bit more waiting, the nurse finally came back out to get them all. Mark stood up and patted Jack’s shoulder reassuringly as Tyler and Ethan filed in front of them down the hallway, stepping into the first exam room.

“Alrighty, boys, who’s going to go first?” the matronly nurse asked, smiling around at them all.

“I will,” Ethan volunteered, sinking down into the chair and rolling up his sleeve.

“Great!” she responded as she slipped her gloves on and grabbed a prefilled syringe. “Relax your arm for me, hon.”

Ethan shut his eyes and let his arm go limp, not making a sound as she administered the vaccine.

“And, all done!” she chirped a moment later, putting a Snoopy themed band-aid on his arm. “We’re all out of plain ones,” she explained, when he gave her a questioning gaze. Once she turned around to get the next syringe ready, Tyler made eye contact with Ethan, who seemed excited that he’d gotten the Snoopy one. He laughed quietly enough that nobody noticed as Ethan got up and sidled over to stand beside Tyler while Mark sank down into the chair.

Mark could tell Jack was still nervous as he rolled up his sleeve and presented the nurse with his bicep. He took a steadying breath and closed his eyes, wincing as the vaccine stung. In no time, Mark was being rewarded with his own cartoon themed band-aid, this time with Bugs Bunny. He stood up and looked at the remaining two members of their party. “So, who’s next?”

Tyler raised a hand. “Might as well get it over with, unless Jack wants to go.”

“Jack?” Mark looked over at the green haired boy, who bit his lip and shook his head. “Alright, then you can go last.”

Tyler nodded and scooted past Ethan and Jack to sit down and have his turn, hissing slightly as she gave him the shot.

“What band-aid did you get?” Ethan asked, peering over the nurse’s shoulder as she taped it on.

“Uh, looks like I got Tweety Bird.”

“Sweet.”

Tyler stood up and moved over to stand beside Ethan again, who was shifting from foot to foot impatiently in a way he’d come to realize earmarked his headspace. If he was normal amounts of fidgety, he was Big Ethan having a bad ADHD day. If the fidgeting was twice as bad, then he was Little Ethan. He patted his arm. “Be outta here in no time, bud.”

Jack uncertainly stepped over to the chair and sat down, shimmying one arm free of one of Mark’s borrowed hoodies and propping it up on the rest.

Mark stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand onto Jack’s shoulder, leaving it there as the nurse stepped up with a sympathetic smile. “Not a big fan of needles, huh?” she asked, and Jack looked at the plastic syringe like it was Shelob herself. The nurse patted his arm. “Don’t worry honey, it’ll only hurt for a second and then it’ll be done. Now, I’m gonna wipe off your arm with this alcohol pad first and then I’m gonna give you the shot, okay?”

Jack nodded and bit his lip, shutting his eyes and turning his head towards Mark. Mark stepped a bit more forwards, pressing his shoulder to Jack’s forehead so he could hide a little more.

“Alright honey, one, two, three,” the nurse sang, and Mark watched as the needle entered Jack’s arm.

Jack flinched and let out a little gasp, free hand clutching at Mark’s shirt.

“It’s just the vaccine that hurts, honey, I’ve already taken out the needle,” the nurse reassured, and taped a Snoopy band-aid onto Jack’s bicep. “There we go, hon. All done. You can come out now,” she teased slightly, patting Jack’s shoulder as she moved to throw the trash away.

It took a good long moment before Jack was able to uncurl himself from Mark’s shoulder, hastily wiping at his eyes before shoving his arm back into the hoodie and standing up. “Let’s go,” he practically begged, leading the way out of the tiny room and leaving the rest to catch up to him.

Thankful they’d taken care of paperwork beforehand, Mark trailed behind the others until they reached the car, Tyler already inside and Ethan leaning against the trunk while Jack stood to the other side of the car looking shaken. He walked over to him and rubbed at his shoulder lightly. “Y’okay?”

“I  _really_ don’t like getting shots.” His voice was weak, more of Little Jack shining through than Big Jack at the moment.

Mark made a little empathetic noise in the back of his throat as Ethan slipped into the back seat. “I know, buddy. But it’s all over now, and you did great!” he enthused, as Jack leaned forward and bumped his forehead into Mark’s shoulder, leaning against him. He wrapped his arms around Jack and held on tightly. “Now it’s over, we can go home, hmm? Just sit in the bed and pout about how much our arms hurt. How’s that sound?”

Jack pulled away and looked pensive for a moment. “Cuddles?” he asked quietly.

“Course, honey.” Mark responded, turning back to get into the car. “Now come on, get in the car. I’m sure everybody else wants to get home too.”

The rest of the car ride was silent, punctuated with people rubbing sore arms and looking incredibly pissed that they had to subject themselves to this torture, so when Mark finally pulled into the driveway everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Sweatpants and comfy shirts were calling them.

Before they went inside, Ethan turned towards Jack with a curious look. “Don’t you have a tattoo?”

“Yeah…” Jack looked uncertain.

“Well, how’s getting a shot worse than getting a tattoo? I mean like, one is several needles for a long time and the other one’s one needle for like, two seconds!”

Jack shifted. “S’different,” he mumbled, unconsciously bringing a hand to rub at where his tattoo was through the hoodie. “Don’t like the medical ones. And tattoo didn’t hurt much.”

Ethan shrugged and got out, everyone else following suit.

Everyone parted ways as soon as feet hit the floor of the entryway, heading to their own bedrooms to change clothes.

As he finished up slipping into a clean shirt, Mark heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Jack wearing his oversized dinosaur shirt and a pair of soft grey sweatpants, looking plaintive and very in need of a good hug. He strode across the room and wrapped him up in a big bear hug, holding onto him tightly.

Jack clung to Mark and tried to make sense of how he was feeling. His head was spinning and he’d almost dropped completely when he’d gotten that shot, but he’d pulled himself out of headspace just in time. Mark started to rub his back and he sighed, shutting his eyes and focusing on how his body felt. His arm throbbed deeply and the surrounding muscle actually hurt. “Arm hurts,” he mumbled into Mark’s shoulder, and sighed as Mark moved a hand to his hair and began to run his fingers through it.

“I know it does,” he replied. “You wanna snuggle up on the bed and watch a movie for a while? I c’n getcha some ibuprofin and an ice pack to put on there, then it won’t hurt so bad.”

Jack felt himself slip further, holding tighter to Mark and whining softly.

“You want Daddy to carry you, baby boy?” he asked, and felt the answering nod against his shoulder. Mark ignored the twinge in his own arm as he propped Jack against a hip and moved downstairs to the kitchen. Passing the living room, he saw Ethan ensconced in a fluffy blanket in Tyler’s lap, tv playing a quiet documentary about monkeys. He set Jack on the counter and rummaged around for the medicine, downing two for himself before handing Jack two and a glass of water, helping him to drink so he wouldn’t spill.

Jack loved it when Mark helped him do the small things like drink out of a lidless cup, or brush his teeth. It always made him feel exceptionally small. When the cup was removed, he reached out and flexed his fingers a few times, letting himself sink lower into his headspace, to where verbal communication didn’t take priority.

“Just a second, bug. Daddy’s getting you an ice pack.”

Jack whined until Mark turned to look at him, arching a brow. “What?”

“Unh unh.” He mumbled, and shook his head.

“You don’t want the ice anymore?”

Jack whined louder and made grabby hands again.

Mark shut the freezer and strode over to his baby, picking him up and hugging him close as Jack wrapped his legs around his waist. He kissed the side of Jack’s head and let him burrow closer. “Alright, then. Let’s just go back to my room and cuddle, hmm?”

Jack hummed softly, already feeling the weight of his Big self fading away as Mark carried him up the stairs. Nothing else seemed to matter except that his Daddy was there and his arm hurt, but that Daddy was gonna cuddle him till it felt better.

Once he’d gotten his fussy little through a diaper change (Big Jack never put them on unless he was absolutely certain he was feeling Little and Mark wasn’t there), Mark curled up beside Jack and let him toy with his fingers. He didn’t turn the tv on, because he was hoping the cuddles could get a certain cranky little boy to sleep for a while. Reaching over with his good hand, he tugged Jack’s blankie from underneath a pillow and handed it over, unclipping the paci from the edge of it and clipping it to Jack’s shirt instead. Sleepily, Jack took the paci into his mouth and curled his blanket up to his cheek, holding tight to Mark’s hand with his free one.

Mark sighed and settled into the mattress, feeling his arm ache. Maybe flu shots sucked, but at least it got him undivided cuddles from his Baby Bug. He nuzzled into soft hair and felt his chest go all warm and fuzzy as Jack curled closer. He was just too cute.


End file.
